Ten Things About Last Night's Game

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Last Nights Game

10. This morning I come to you from "The Cube Farm" which is my Dilbert-like office hutch. Don't tell anyone, OK? Thursday night games are awkward. They're not quite Monday Night Football. They're only seen by people outside of the home and visiting teams on the NFL Network - and not everybody has the NFL Network. So even though it's a "national" game, its not really "national" if that makes sense. Here in KC, it was like watching a Royals game, only it was the Chiefs, and no Ned Yost. For those of you in KC: Did you keep worrying that the thunderstorms would knock out your power or your cable and we'd end up listening to Lenny and Mitch on an old school transistor radio? Luckily the power stayed on. I like to listen to Lenny and Mitch while watching the game, although the link up between the audio and video still isn't right. The radio audio runs about 3 seconds behind the TV play. With that combination, it gives you a psychic sense, because you see the pick six before Mitch says "Berry with the Pick Six!" And, of course, I did drink every time Lenny said "penetration," so I am a little foggier than usual this morning.

9. In the morning commute, I was listening to the usual sport talk blather. One of the things that chaps me is the number of numbskulled nattering neybobs of negativity. In a thirty minute drive to work, I heard people in earnest say "Alex Smith is Cassel." And "We should have won by 35 points." And "Where was Bowe?" And "We can't block for Charles." And "Our offensive line sucks." Blah blah blah blah blah….
I'll get to some of that in a minute. People…..HELLO, THIS TEAM IS 3-0. They've already won more games than all of last year. They have not lost a road game. I swear to God, there's a pocket of Chiefs fans that will never be happy no matter what. They're the kind of people who would win power ball, and bitch that the winning ticket gave them a paper cut.

8. Alex Smith is not Peyton Manning. He's not Brady, or Rapistburger, or Brees. But you know what? People were saying going in that "Alex Smith is not as good as Michael Vick." Yes. True. He was also better and the same. Smith out passed Vick 248 to 171. He was worse: Vick threw for one TD, Smith for none. He was the same. Both QB's sacked five times. But where Smith was best, and what tipped the balance, was turnovers: Vick 5, Smith 0. The Chiefs are +9 in the turnover ratio, they finished last in the NFL last year in the negative mid 20's. Being +9 is due to Smith's smarts as a QB, and due to our defense being opportunists. Now, the thing about turnovers is, they tend to even out over the course of a year. So that is a cause for concern. At some point Smith is going to throw picks. Charles and Davis will fumble. A receiver will get separated from the ball after a catch. It's going to happen. But last night, the Chiefs were turnover free on offense, opportunistic on defense, and that has been a winning combination in September.

7. Charles showed me a lot last night. It seems like in the first three quarters, he has struggled to find any running room. Our top two tight ends being out have hurt on stretch plays. Charles can get to the corner, barely, and that's it. There's been little between the tackles early on. Charles isn't the kind of guy you want to pound between the tackles anyway. In the fourth quarter, much like against Dallas, Charles was the difference in sustaining clock killing drives. And where Charles is having trouble finding running room from the backfield, his pass receptions are making up for that. He had 80 yards in pass receiving and 92 yards rushing. That helps offset McCoy's 158 yards rushing. BTW: did you notice McCoy didn't have a single yard in pass receiving? Charles stuck a couple guys in pass protection-blitz pickup too. He played a well rounded game, and didn't put the ball on the ground. Well done. Knile Davis got a couple carries in the second half to give Charles a blow. He had both arms wrapped around the football. I think somebody is finally getting through to him about ball security.

6. Smith spread the ball around to seven receivers, which is the same as the Dallas game. When Fasano comes back, that will be a blessing. Our #3 tight end "Prison Shower McGrath" and our #4 tight end "Here For A Limited Time Only Brock" had real problems in run blocking and pass protection -when held in as extra protection for Smith. McGrath has pretty good hands. He'll catch the ball when you throw it to him, but has no elusiveness.He also has a hard time sustaining a block on the edge. Brock is a speed bump and will be back on the street soon. Donnie Avery had a great game with seven catches and 141 yards. That's over 20 yards per catch. And I'll bet you of that 141 yards, 120 of them were yards after the catch. Smith is not throwing the ball 20 yards down field. He's throwing the ball four yards down field, and the receiver does the rest. Bowe had one catch all night for short yards, but did a great job blocking down field, both for Avery on his cross field jaunts, and for Charles on his catches in the flat. Bowe is growing up. I think he gets it now. He's becoming a team player and not just "Bowe Show." That's big, and that's what a team leader should do and be.

5. People were grousing that the Chiefs should have been up by much more after the first quarter. The Eagles came out of the gate and shat themselves. Muffed kick. Pick Six. Fumbles. But you know what? One of the reasons they shat themselves was because of our defense. Poe had no tackles last night. Zero. But he batted down a pass and collapsed the front of the pocket consistently all night long. Tyson Jackson was getting held again this week. Seems like he's going to have to develop a reputation for pass rush before the ref's will give him a break. Luckily, Hali and Houston were all over the field again last night. If anyone had any question as to whether Houston deserved his All Pro status at the end of last year, consider his night: 3.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, a pass tipped and three successfully defended passes in the flat -among his seven total tackles. That's a Derrick Thomas style game changing performance.

4. Secondary had a good night overall. Obviously the pick six was great, which put Vick in an early hole. But Smith's pick was big too. Flowers gutted it out, playing when he should have sat out. Robinson and "I Keel You" Abdullah filled in reasonably well. Abdullah got beat on the TD pass to Avant, but Vick threw a perfect pass, and ate the full fury of a DJ blitz when he unloaded- just give the Eagles credit on that play. And our secondary smothered the Eagles' Jackson. He was a non-factor. The 41 yard TD run by McCoy was a bit worrisome. That was a simple dive play. Poe got sealed off by the center, DJ got picked off by a guard, and McCoy ran a straight line 41 yards down the field, basically untouched. This defense will give up huge chunks on occasion. You can live with that when forcing five turnovers. But when the turnovers dry up, that could be a big problem down the road.

3. Bad night for Chiefs tackles. Brandon Albert had a hold and two illegal formation penalties for cheating back off the line on passing downs. Fisher got beat for sacks twice, once badly on an inside swim move, and he had two holding penalties. Allen hurt his wrist, then his groin, and went out of the game in the second half. Personally I think Schwartz is a fine guard, and is equal to, if not better than Allen. When the Chiefs needed to grind the ball in the fourth quarter to eat clock and make first downs, it was Schwartz on the line, not Allen.

2. Dustin Colquitt is special. Just give him his ticket to Hawaii now and get it over with. Dexter McMidget should be kept off the punt team. Put Demps back there. McMidget has been a non-factor this year and could have turned the game for Philly in the fourth quarter by muffing a kick. He's also been dropping passes on the opportunities thrown to him on offense. He needs to step up his game. Be good or be gone. And props to Suckie for hitting on four FGs on his birthday. The last one was a biggie, because that made it a two score game with four minutes left.

1. Last but not least, congratulations to Andy Reid. You know he wanted to win this one, although publicly he was very cool about. And he was right, with a short week, there wasn't a lot of time to waste thinking about that kind of stuff. Everyone would love an opportunity to stick it to a former boss and company that gave you a pink slip. And the post game off the field "interview" with Sal Paolantonio was comedy gold. Sal is an east coast sportswriter, and skewered Andy during his last two years in Philly. Sal got Andy's version of "Kiss my big fat lemony fresh ASS, Sal…." on national TV. That had to be sweeeeet for Big Red. So, our boys are 3-0. It's been a September to remember. Hopefully we can keep the September mojo going for one more Sunday against the G-Men. I can't help but think Andy's 14-years of experience vs. the NFC East has been a tremendous help. Let's hope he can develop some of that same expertise shooting down AFC West teams. My final piece of advice is, enjoy the ride. Stop worrying about Alex Smith and line blocking and third down efficiency and such, and think about this: Six out of the last seven times the Chiefs started 3-0, they made the playoffs. I like our chances.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by milkman

Almost everyone was excited about bringing Gunther back.
Jim (Logical) and I were were just about the only dissenting voices.

I miss Jim.
Wish he were here for this.

I hated that hire. As a matter of fact, when Carl hired him as HC I gave up my season tix.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by milkman

Almost everyone was excited about bringing Gunther back.
Jim (Logical) and I were were just about the only dissenting voices.

I miss Jim.
Wish he were here for this.

If I'm alive when KC finally wins one I'll think of 3 people:

1) DT (even if retired he deserved to see the moment.)
2) Jim
3) Keith Cash. I'd love to have my most happy (football) moment tied to the greatest of all Chiefs football moments.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Rausch

I'm not sure what you mean here...

He was banned over his font size
Posted via Mobile Device

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by Rausch

If I'm alive when KC finally wins one I'll think of 3 people:

1) DT (even if retired he deserved to see the moment.)
2) Jim
3) Keith Cash. I'd love to have my most happy (football) moment tied to the greatest of all Chiefs football moments.

I assume you mean this? And yeah, it was awesome lol. I will never forget that. And I was like 10 years old.

[gblowfish]

I just re-watched the Philly game, and had some additional thoughts. If we're looking to improve against the G-Men, here's some areas that need work.

I watched Eric Fisher primarily on all our offensive plays. He is very bad on footwork for pass blocking. I mean bad. He got beat at least a half dozen times where it wasn't even close. Several times after getting beat, on the next pass play, the guard had to slide over and help double team his man, or the tight end had to stay in and chip his man. He got beat inside on swim moves, he missed picking up blitzers on the corner. Remember the receiver screen to Bowe that almost got intercepted? It was Fisher's guy who went untouched to the flat and almost picked off the ball. Also, he does not sustain his blocks long enough. If you go back and watch Charles' stretch plays, he can't get the corner when running right on Fisher's side, because Fisher doesn't hold his block. Most of Charles' yards were made running left, behind Albert, who seals the edge. Fisher seems to drive block straight ahead well, but really needs big time help in pass blocking and holding the edge. He's getting owned out there. Needs to get better or the Giants will eat his lunch.

Kendrick Lewis is TERRIBLE in run support. On Michael Vick's first run, Vick takes the ball on the 16 yard line, Lewis is standing on the 24 yard line. He sees Vick coming all the way, and yet doesn't lay an hand on him until Vick is at midfield. Same thing on McCoy's TD run. It's a 41 yard run. Lewis is standing in the middle of the field, back about 15 yards. It's an obvious running play, right up the middle. Lewis doesn't lay a hand on McCoy until he's crossing the end zone corner. Berry, on the other hand, is tremendous at run support, and stuffed several runs for short yardage. Lewis, not so much. And he also has a hard time bringing people down one on one. He almost always needs help making a tackle.

On Vick's TD Pass: They ran a pick play, where three receivers converge. Abdullah got picked by one guy crossing, and it gave his man an opening where he got a couple steps, and Abdullah couldn't close. The pass was perfect. And Derrick Johnson was just a millisecond too late to stop Vick from unloading. He totally buried Vick, just de-cleated him. So you have to give Vick credit for standing in there and taking the blitz. But he's not going to make it through the season if he keeps taking hits like that.

Nobody said anything about Andy Reid's clock management at the end of the first half. The yard line marker guys juked him. Reid thought he had a first down, but it was actually fourth and a yard. In the confusion, KC got a delay of game penalty, which made it fourth and six. Smith had to do his best Daffy Duck impersonation -thanks to Fisher's guy almost sacking him not once, but twice- and threw up a Hail Mary which was knocked down by Philly. With better management, we may have been able to try a field goal at the end of the half, but couldn't get it together. Philly fans held clock management fails against Reid as one of his shortcomings as a coach. First time I've seen it, but we'll have to watch for that in games to come.

Oh...

And I did snap a cool screen shot of Charles. I like it!

[Saccopoo]

Spot on with the addendums.

Right now, our two tackles stink. So do Allen and Asamoah.

It was immediately apparent that blocking quality went up when Schwartz came into the game at LG, even though he's primarily been a RT/RG to this point in his career.

I'm sure Albert would bitch to the heavens, but right now, this should be the Chiefs offensive line:

LT: Fisher
LG: Albert
C: Hudson
RG: Schwartz
RT: Stevenson

Fisher is having a hard time adjusting to the right side of the line and it's apparent in his footwork and timing. I'd like to see if it's actually a left/right thing as former offensive linemen have stated (remember Bruce Matthews talking about how difficult the switch was going from left to right).

Albert's technique has always been mediocre at best and he's getting worked and penalized in order to compensate for it at this point. He needs to be in at guard. His experience and athleticism at LG would greatly benefit Fisher at LT as well, whereas Fisher and Asamoah on the right side isn't looking too hot.

Allen has put too much weight on from his rookie to second year and it shows. He's carrying a lot of fat whereas he was relatively lean at the beginning of last season. He's slow out of the blocks and has a hard time engaging.

Asamoah simply misses far too many blocks. He completely whiffs on picking guys up, especially on pulling plays. He's a liability at this point versus Schwartz, who has really manhandled dudes so far this season.

Hudson has been solid through three games, IMO.

I don't know if it's continuity or what, but the offensive line has been the weak point of the team so far and it's not even close.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by lcarus

I assume you mean this? And yeah, it was awesome lol. I will never forget that. And I was like 10 years old.

Heh, I wonder if that Cash spike would draw a penalty in today's NFL?

[Buehler445]

If Fisher has no feet or power on the right, why the **** would we move the ONE GUY that's not a sieve?

[Sandy Vagina]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Ten Things About Last Nights Game

I'll get to some of that in a minute. People…..HELLO, THIS TEAM IS 3-0. They've already won more games than all of last year. They have not lost a road game. I swear to God, there's a pocket of Chiefs fans that will never be happy no matter what. They're the kind of people who would win power ball, and bitch that the winning ticket gave them a paper cut.

My final piece of advice is, enjoy the ride. Stop worrying about Alex Smith and line blocking and third down efficiency and such, and think about this: Six out of the last seven times the Chiefs started 3-0, they made the playoffs. I like our chances.

Best poster on this entire forum... seriously. These are great. Thank you again.

GO CHIEFS !!!

[ThaVirus]

Given what we've seen on the field, moving Fisher to LT would be literally the worst idea ever. I can't believe someone would actually think that would be a good idea.

[damaticous]

Love the "Ten Things"!!!! LOOOOOOOOOOng time member and lurker, but I look forward to this each and every day after a chiefs game.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!1

Please continue!!! Love em, love your opinions, observations, and continuance of the "Ten Things".

[Pasta Little Brioni]

I said all offseason and why I picked the team to win 10-11 games was that turnover differential is the easiest way to turn around a struggling team...especially one with this much talent. The top like 8 teams in the NFC all had winning records last year.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Given what we've seen on the field, moving Fisher to LT would be literally the worst idea ever. I can't believe someone would actually think that would be a good idea.

It is his natural position.

No reason to move him while Albert is still here.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by BCD

It is his natural position.

No reason to move him while Albert is still here.

I'm aware of that.

It would still be the worst idea ever at this point in time.

[splatbass]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I'm aware of that.

It would still be the worst idea ever at this point in time.

I agree. I don't want the weakest link in the OL protecting the QB's blindside.